The Girl He Saved
by MissMoony7575
Summary: Sequel to The People He Loved. Yassen's back and thinks that he's put his assassin life behind him, but SCORPIA and the intelligence agencies aren't ready to leave him alone quite yet.
1. New Scorpia Agents

Hey guys!

Well here's the sequel. Hope you guys like it :D.

Oh, and if you have time, I'd really appreciate it if you read Once, another one of my Alex Rider fics. I think I'll be starting it back up again soon :D. It's got Yassen in it.

Thank you again for all your reviewing!

-Lauren

x.x.x

Yassen Gregorovich was a changed man.

Within the last few months, he had undergone a complete transformation from an assassin into a father. Impossible, some might say. But Yassen had done it.

It was amazing, if you thought about it. Yassen couldn't name any other person he knew that had undergone the same transformation that he had. The life of a contract killer was rarely long.

It was an ordinary day – the sun was shining, the birds were calling, and Yassen reflected. It had been months since the incident with Michael Smith, and already the drama seemed to have faded – Yassen remembered it, but it seemed like it happened in an alternate universe – not in the life he was living now. And yet it was the very girl who was in the middle of the incident that caused the change in him.

Anya had impacted Yassen like no other person he had ever met – and every day he wondered where he'd be if he'd answered no to the question of taking her in. It would have changed both their lives – though for the worst. It was amazing how one single decision could change the course of fate.

Yassen could hear Anya's rhythmic breathing as he walked past her room. He smiled. She was such a peaceful person. Over the last few months, she had come out of her shell quite considerably. Though she would never be as outgoing as some of the students at her school, she was not afraid of human contact and the grief that had once dominated her persona had vanished. She still was not the best conversationist, and stumbled in some social situations, but she was enjoying life.

She and Alex had become good friends – there were some things you can't go through without becoming friends – and being kidnapped and escaping is one of them. Alex told her his life story, and though she was shocked, she found that the story fitted every assumption she had made about Alex.

Somehow, MI6 hadn't found out that Alex had been involved in the incident, but they did know about it. All Smith's assassins had been taken to court and charged with murder – they all received life sentences. Michael Smith and Julia Rothman were dead.

It seemed that life was perfect for Yassen, Anya and Alex, but that was all about to change.

x.x.x

Kiara wasn't happy.

Currently, she was sitting in a house that wasn't hers, with, possibly, the most annoying boy in the universe.

'Hey, Kiara,' called Ryan. Kiara rolled her eyes and turned around to face him reluctantly.

'What?' she asked boredly.

'There's a cockroach in the bathroom,' said Ryan, grinning.

Kiara groaned.

It was so typical of him to be amused by such an irrelevant occurrence.

'Did I _really_ need to know that?' she asked, in an irritated tone.

Ryan didn't answer – he was already running back to the bathroom. Kiara rolled her eyes and turned on the TV. There was nothing good to watch – there was only a documentary on butterflies, the Simpsons, some horrible TV soap opera, an equally intellectually degrading TV drama, a grotesque Japanese film –

'RYAN!' Kiara screamed, as she felt something crawl down her back. Kiara jumped up and screamed, and hopped around trying to rid herself of the cockroach. She ran her hands down her back, trying to shake the thing off. Ryan started to laugh uncontrollably.

Kiara saw the cockroach fall to the ground and scurry away quickly.

'RYAN, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!' she screamed, and lunged for the boy.

She wrapped her hands around his neck and pushed him to the ground. He managed to kick her shin and she released her hands instinctively. Ryan took the opportunity to grab Kiara's neck, but she had recovered quickly from her injury and forced his hands away. She saw an unguarded target area on his body, so she took the opportunity to kick him in the groin.

'What's going on here?' asked Robert, walking in with his hands on his hips as he saw the two fighting teenagers.

'Just practising,' said Kiara, smiling as she saw Ryan groaning in pain on the floor. She stood up and dusted herself off.

Robert rolled his eyes.

'We're on a serious mission here, guys. Don't muck around. You have to-'

Kiara screamed again as Ryan pulled her hair and made her topple to the floor. He grabbed her neck and placed his fingers at the different pressure points he had been taught to locate.

'Ryan! Kiara!' shouted Robert, but the teenagers paid no heed to the older man.

'I win!' shouted Ryan.

'Oh, shut up,' said Kiara, rolling her eyes.

'I wouldn't be rude. I could kill you right now,' Ryan reminded her, pressing a little harder with his fingers.

'As if you would,' said Kiara, completely unconcerned.

'Let her go, Ryan,' said Robert, irritated. The last few days had driven him to the end of his patience.

Scorpia agents were meant to be efficient, focused, talented and _mature_. Ryan and Kiara were only 14 years old, it was true, but Robert had seen better behaved 8 year olds. Robert hated every second of this mission. He was charged only to act as a guardian for the two teenagers. Apparently they could handle themselves. Robert doubted it. They were juvenile, immature, and insolent. He didn't know what on earth what Dr Three was thinking, sending these two out. But Robert knew better than to argue with Dr Three.

Reluctantly Ryan released Kiara, and in a split second she'd turned around and was starting to strangle him.

'Kiara!' said Robert sharply.

'He set a cockroach on me!' she protested.

Robert shook his head. This was getting out of hand – Kiara underestimated her strength; Ryan's face was starting to turn red.

He grabbed Kiara by the collar and pulled her away from Ryan. Ryan coughed and muttered something rude under his breath as he massaged his neck.

'Now, I want you two to listen,' Robert said, bending over the two teenagers and frowning. 'This is a serious mission we're on here. If we don't succeed-'

Ryan interrupted him.

'Yeah, Scorpia will dispose of us. We know. Whatever.'

'I wouldn't take this lightly, young man.'

'I wouldn't take this so seriously, old man,' said Ryan, sniggering.

'Ok, you two can muck around as much as you like now. Just don't come crying to me when you fail.'

'Trust me, we won't,' Ryan assured him, and left the room with a confident sneer.


	2. New Teacher

Hey guys!

Sorry it's such a short chapter, but I've been trying to write more for some of my other fics and I just came up with an awesome idea for a new Alex Rider fic, so watch out for it!

x.x.x

It was an ordinary day at school, which was about to turn extraordinary.

Anya took her usual seat next to Alex in their roll call class, giving him a smile.

'Morning Alex,' she said. 'Morning Tom.'

'Morning Anya,' Alex replied.

'Hey Anya, what's up?' asked Tom.

'Not much. I heard we're getting a new teacher today,' she said casually.

'Yeah, I heard that too,' said Tom. 'Mr Perry's retiring, apparently.'

'Really?' asked Alex. He wasn't really with it much – most of the time he had his mind on other things, and considering all the school he missed, he wasn't really up to date with school affairs.

'Do you know who it is?' Anya asked. Tom shook his head.

'I suppose we'll find out. Hope they aren't like Mr Bray,' said Tom. Anya laughed. 'Shht! Shhhht! SHHHHT, CHILDREN!' he said in a loud voice, imitating Mr Bray. 'You know when my mum went to the Parent Teacher interviews, he talked about his yoga classes?'

Anya and Alex laughed. Alex hadn't had any lessons with Mr Bray, but he'd heard about him and he sounded really weird. Tom, however, had a tendency to exaggerate things.

'Tom!' said Anya, hitting him on the arm. The teacher had just walked in on his Mr Bray impersonation, and was giving Tom a stern look.

'Tom Harris?' she said. 'What were you doing?' she asked, looking down at him through her reading glasses. Mrs Jenkins wasn't the nicest of teachers, and frowned upon basically everything that wasn't outdated 20 years ago. She knew that Tom was impersonating Mr Bray – everyone knew his infamous 'shhhht!' line.

'I was just telling the class to be quiet. I _am_ the SRC, you know,' he said cheekily. Mrs Jenkins glared at him, and shook her head, returning to her desk, unable to think of a reason to punish Tom.

Tom grinned; Alex and Anya had to cover their mouths to stop themselves from laughing. It was school as usual… but not for long.

x.x.x

'You know, if there's an earthquake coming, I don't think knowing how fast they're going or whether they're a P or an S wave is your biggest problem,' Tom said to Alex, as they were walking out of the classroom.

Alex laughed. He realised in these past few months how much he enjoyed school, how much he enjoyed being normal, being like the other kids. Sure, he did sort of miss MI6, and the feeling that he was achieving something, but he could do everything he wanted to that he wasn't able to do before, and it made him really good. Being with Tom and Anya, he had real friends and felt like he really belonged. He found that even though he was changed after his spy experiences, he could live a normal life, like any other kid. Most of us want to be extraordinary - to become famous, to become rich, to do something important, but all Alex wanted was to be normal.

He wished it would stay this way forever; he'd give almost anything to have a normal life, but it wasn't to be.

Alex opened the door to the classroom, and gasped. He stopped in his tracks, and Tom bumped into him.

'What's wrong?' he asked, but Alex didn't answer.

He had heard they were getting a new teacher today, but he didn't expect anything like this! This was crazy! This was absolute insanity!

So much for having a normal life.


	3. Better Not To Ask

Tamara Knight.

He knew he had to pretend he didn't know her. So he walked into the classroom coolly, only shooting a glancing look at her, before sitting down in his seat. Tom wolf-whistled softly in Alex's ear, and Anya shot him a disapproving look.

'I knew we were getting a new teacher,' Tom said, 'but I didn't expect this!' he whispered.

'Neither did I,' muttered Alex to himself.

Alex didn't answer, instead wondering why the CIA would plant their agent in his school. Did it have something to do with him? Was he in danger, or did they suspect him for something? Or did it have something to do with Anya, and that her legal guardian was Yassen?

Whatever it was, it wasn't good news.

Alex watched all the boys gape as they caught sight of their new teacher. He wondered what they'd think if he told them he'd hugged her.

'Is something wrong?' asked Anya. Anya. Always the first to notice when there was something else on Alex's mind, had used her incredible prowess once again.

'No, nothing,' lied Alex, but knowing that she knew something was wrong anyway.

'Good morning, class,' said Tamara Knight.

The girls in the class looked unhappy, while the boys mumbled back 'good morning's.

'I'm your new teacher. My name is Miss Knight,' she said, flashing her brilliant smile at the class. Alex searched her eyes for clues, but Tamara was a good actress and didn't give anything away.

As the lesson progressed, Anya tried to figure out what was wrong with Alex. Something, definitely. Most probably it had something to do with the teacher, seeing as everything else was the same (as far as she knew). Plus, Alex kept glancing at her, and Anya hardly suspected it was the same reason why all the boys were staring. Could it have something to do with the fact that he was a spy?

Knowing how much Alex liked silence when he was thinking from past experience, she didn't ask him any questions.

The lesson ended, and neither of the three friends had heard anything Miss Knight had said. Alex was wondering what the CIA wanted here. Anya was trying to figure out what was wrong with Alex. And Tom… he just spent all his brainpower staring at Miss Knight.

Alex tried to linger at the end of the lesson, but Tom lingered with him. Anya shot him a puzzled look and left.

'Look, I need to ask the teacher about something,' said Alex.

'Ok,' said Tom, watching Miss Knight pack up her books.

'_Alone_,' Alex said.

Tom rolled his eyes.

'Is this something to do with…' he asked.

Alex nodded.

'Ok,' said Tom, sighing and leaving.

'Hello Alex,' said Tamara, smiling at Alex.

'Hello Tamara,' he replied politely. He wondered what the politest way to ask what the CIA wanted was.

'You want to know what the CIA is doing, don't you?' she asked, in a softer voice.

'Yes. Does it have something to do with me?' he asked.

Tamara thought, and then sighed.

'I'm sorry, but I can't tell you,' she said, looking genuinely sorry.

Alex knew her answer was going to be something like that.

'Thank you for going into space for us,' she said, breaking the awkward silence.

'That's fine,' muttered Alex.

'Alex, I would tell you if I could, really, but this is a secret operation. I really can't divulge information, for your safety as well as mine,' she said.

'Does MI6 know?' Alex asked.

Tamara bit her lip.

'Look, you're going to be late for your next class,' she said, standing up.

'Bye then,' said Alex, leaving the classroom, disappointed.

'Bye,' replied Tamara, giving him a pitying look that he was rather annoyed by.

At least he had a new mission.

To find out what the CIA wanted.

x.x.x

'You're _late_,' said Mr McDonald, annoyed. Mr McDonald had hated Alex ever since he had first missed that first two weeks for the Stormbreaker mission.

'Sorry, I had to ask my previous teacher about something.'

Mr McDonald rolled his eyes and indicated for Alex to sit down.

The rest of the lesson dragged by, and Alex could not concentrate on what Mr McDonald was saying, no matter how hard he tried. He was thinking about all the possible reasons why the CIA would be here. He came up with the most likely, and ordered them from best to worst case scenarios.

1. Something completely unrelated to him (though Alex doubted this).

2. He was in danger of some sort, and the CIA wanted to protect him.

3. They had found out that Yassen Gregorovich was alive.

x.x.x

'Alex, is something wrong?' Anya asked, as they walked out of the school. Alex had been out of sorts all day, ever since they got their new teacher, Miss Knight. He'd also looked at Anya far too many times than normal, as if he was trying to figure something out.

'No, nothing,' he lied again. He gazed off into the distance and looked troubled.

'Alex?' Anya asked, seeing the look on his face.

'Anya, do you want to come over this afternoon?' Alex asked, snapping out of his reserved mood.

'Yeah, sure, why?' she asked.

'I need to ask you and Yassen something,' said Alex.

Anya raised an eyebrow.

'Alright. We'll go and ask now,' she said, ignoring the fact that Alex was being unusually vague. When it came to Alex, Anya had learned it was better not to ask.

Anya spotted Yassen's Porsche after a few seconds of searching, and Alex and her walked towards it.

Anya opened the door.

'Good afternoon Anya, Alex,' said Yassen, from the drivers' seat.

'Hi Yassen,' said Anya, smiling.

'Good afternoon,' replied Alex. Yassen noticed that Alex was looking troubled, and had something on his mind. He was looking around the area in the gaps between talking.

'Is something wrong?' Yassen asked.

'Alex asked whether we want to go over to his house this afternoon. He wants to ask you something,' Anya said. Alex was looking at something else, and probably wasn't listening to the conversation.

Yassen considered, but not for long. He had nothing much to do, and obviously something was preying on Alex's mind.

Alex spotted Tamara approaching and was alarmed.

'Go, go, now!' he whispered furiously to Yassen.

Yassen didn't question Alex, and neither did Anya. She jumped into the car, closed the door quickly and Yassen drove off.

Alex tried not to look suspicious as he walked away in the direction of his house.


	4. Tamara Who?

Finally, an update!

I'm so sorry I haven't been updating lately, I've been working on a few original fics and school has been hectic! I'm really sorry!

I will be trying to update more often, I promise!

Thank you guys for sticking with me!

-Lauren

x.x.x

Yassen and Anya arrived at Alex's house before Alex did. A rather startled Jack opened the door, and smiled as she saw Anya.

'Anya, it's nice to see you again,' she said politely, smiling at Anya and avoiding Yassen's gaze.

Jack didn't like Yassen. Ever since Alex told her who he really was, and what he'd done to Ian Rider, Jack had hated the man. She did not have any problems with Anya, just with her guardian.

'Nice to see you too,' replied Anya, smiling even though she was aware of the extreme awkwardness of the situation. Jack was probably wondering where Alex was, and why Ian Rider's murderer was standing in her house, but she was still smiling. Anya granted Jack the quality of being extremely good at masking her emotions.

'Alex walked home,' explained Yassen. 'He wanted to talk to us, but didn't want a lift.'

Jack muttered something under her breath and turned back to Yassen with a fake smile.

'Of course. Would you like any drinks?'

Yassen and Anya shook their head simultaneously, and all 3 hoped that Alex would get home quickly.

5 minutes later, Alex came in.

'Sorry Jack, I meant to ring you, but-' apologised Alex, but stopped as he realised it was a little late. He knew how much Jack disapproved of Yassen. Jack smiled at him and left for the kitchen.

'Did you need to talk to us about something?' asked Yassen, looking straight at Alex. Alex still hadn't got quite used to the fact that the gaze that used to scare him to death belonged to one of his friends' uncles.

'Yes,' said Alex. 'I think the CIA is up to something.' Alex didn't waste any time getting to the point. Alex sat down on the couch in the living room and indicated for Anya and Yassen to do the same.

'What leads you to believe that?' asked Yassen. Alex was an observant boy, whatever he had seen was probably accurate and a trustworthy source.

'There's a CIA agent planted in our school.'

'Wouldn't that just be to keep an eye on you?' asked Anya.

'No, that's what Miss Treat is there for,' said Alex. 'And if it was just to keep an eye on me, Tamara wouldn't have been so secretive.'

Yassen's thoughts stopped in their tracks.

Tamara.

'Tamara who?' he asked, just to be sure, even though he already knew the answer.

'Tamara Knight.'

x.x.x

Yassen froze as soon as he heard her name.

_Tamara Knight._

The one woman that he would never forget – apart from Anya and his own mother.

And there Yassen was thinking he would never see her again.

He didn't know what to think, and when this happens to a world-class assassin, something bad is definitely about to happen.

x.x.x

'Do you know her?' asked Alex, studying the curious expression on Yassen's face. It wasn't one he could decipher easily. Yassen's training had obviously been of some use.

'Briefly,' said Yassen, with a tone of finality.

Alex was curious, but not so curious that he was willing to brave Yassen and whatever emotion Tamara Knight had uncovered in him.

'How did you know her?' asked Anya, obviously more willing to ask than Alex was, or less afraid of Yassen.

Yassen didn't answer for a few seconds, and then looked out the window.

'Anya, it's getting late. Thank you for your hospitality, Alex. We should go,' he said, avoiding Alex's gaze.

'You can stay for dinner,' offered Alex.

'No, we should go; I'm sure Jack would not appreciate us intruding any further,' said Yassen, and Alex admitted he had to agree. He wondered why Yassen became so touchy at the mention of a single CIA agent.

x.x.x

Anya and Yassen didn't talk over dinner; it was an awkward night. Anya wanted to ask more about Yassen and what he knew about Tamara, but she knew it was dangerous to, and she knew that Yassen had no desire whatsoever to talk about it. She also didn't want to intrude on her uncle's private memories, but she was burning with curiosity.

Yassen was the first to break the silence.

'You heard what Alex said; there's a CIA agent planted in the school. She might be looking for me. We weren't exactly careful on that last "adventure",' said Yassen. Anya nodded. 'So don't mention my name – ever. Don't talk about anything suspicious, even with Alex. I have a feeling that Tamara Knight is not the only CIA agent in place, and that's completely apart from all the MI6 agents at that school.' Anya nodded again. 'If they ask any questions, you know nothing. You don't know anything about Alex, either. If anything happens, don't contact me unless it's absolutely necessary. When you're walking home, check for any followers. Ok?'

'Ok,' said Anya, nodding again.

x.x.x

_It had been a still night._

_For Tamara Knight, it was just another day of work. She had been placed into the organisation to investigate, and so far things were going well. She didn't think that anyone inside the company suspected her – most of them liked her, and didn't ask too many questions. She had been steadily gathering information, and tonight she was planning to break into the archive library. It would give her all the information that she needed, and once she had done that, she could leave._

_Fingering the gun under her jacket, she stepped inside. She'd stolen the codes from one of the guards – it had been almost too easy. Silently, she closed the door and was enveloped in darkness. She reached for her torch, but someone else turned on the lights._

'_Hands up,' said a cold voice. Tamara looked around her and saw over a dozen men with guns pointing at her. She had no choice but to surrender. Slowly she raised her palms and tasted bitter defeat._

_One of the men grabbed her and took her gun, and the man who was in charge just laughed. _

'_Yassen,' he said. 'Dispose of her. I don't want to see her in the morning.'_

_Yassen had taken one look at the girl and wondered how old she was. She couldn't have been more than 20 – what was she doing here? But he couldn't argue with his boss._

'_Yes,' he said emotionlessly. His boss handed him a zip tie, and he took it. His footsteps and the girl's uneven breathing were the only sounds in the library. _

_Expertly Yassen grabbed the girl's hands and tied them together, and pushed her to one of the back rooms, out of the sight of his boss. For once, he was torn._

_He could see the fear in her eyes – he could see that she was terrified. She thought she was going to die. She could see the deadness in his eyes, and she didn't think she would survive._

_She didn't know that she was in the room with the best assassin in the world, or that he had a heart._

_She was too young, he thought. Too young to be in spy work. Too young to be caught up in intelligence agencies. Too young, like he had been. _

'_Please,' she whispered. She didn't think it would help, but anything was worth a try at this point._

'_What's your name?' he asked._

_He knew that slowly and steadily, he was losing control. Never ask someone you're about to kill their name. It personalises them – it makes them human. Yassen had no trouble killing people – he'd killed more than he could count. But… there was something about this girl. Something different. _

'_Tamara Knight,' she said, quivering. _

_Why was she so young? And why didn't he just kill her? It was a simple matter – he just had to take out his gun, load it, and pull the trigger. His boss would dispose of the body, and the girl called Tamara Knight would just be another figure in his long list of murders. _

_But as he reached for the gun, he realised he was shaking. Shaking?! Yassen Gregorovich did not shake._

'_How old are you?' asked Yassen._

_That was his second mistake. Maybe he could have killed her if he only knew her name – everybody had a name, whether Yassen knew it or not. But asking her age? That would make it near impossible to kill her. What on earth was he doing? The questions were just slipping out of his mouth – it was as if his brain was trying to make an excuse not to kill her._

_But why?_

'_19,' she replied, looking like she was about to cry. _

_Yassen paused._

_19?! She had only just reached adulthood! She had probably been forced to become a spy. How could he kill her now? She hadn't done anything wrong – and she was only 19! Yassen wanted to kick himself – now that he knew she was 19, he could never kill her._

_And then, to top it all off, the girl started to cry._

_She looked like she could have been in high school, and didn't look like a spy at all. _

_Yassen knew he couldn't kill her now._

_Where a normal person would have patted her on the shoulder if it was a normal situation, all of Yassen's normal human instincts had been curbed by many years of assassination training. So he just stood, petrified, not knowing what to do. He tried reaching for the gun, but he couldn't bring it out. _

_Cursing himself, he grabbed her around the waist and hoisted the girl over his shoulder. _

'_Shh,' he whispered to her, with the slightest trace of emotion._

_The crying stopped, and she tried to keep quiet. She knew calling for help would be no good now; she just had to hope and put all her trust in the man that was carrying her. _

_He opened the door and stepped out onto the beach, making no noise as he stepped across the sand. They went on for a minute in silence, when he put her down on the ground, when they were at the rowing shed. He grabbed a kayak with an oar with his free hand and seemingly effortlessly dragged it down onto the beach, still carrying the girl on his shoulder. _

_He had no idea why he was doing this. He had no idea why he wanted to save this girl. He really didn't – his mind was just going mad, and he couldn't stop it. _

'_Get in,' he whispered softly, and surprisingly, instead of running, she obeyed. Maybe she saw the little bit of compassion in his eyes, or maybe she was just stupid. _

_He pushed the kayak off the beach, and hopped in himself. He started to paddle, and they continued silently into the sea, splashes of water the only sound around. _

_The mainland was a few kilometres away, but Yassen could easily make it. He would tell his boss that he drowned the girl – it was an effective way of getting rid of a body quickly – the sharks would usually get them before the police did. He shuddered as he thought of the sharks getting this small, shivering, 19 year old girl, and then wondered why the thought was so horrendous to him._

_When they were away from the island, Yassen contemplated saying something to the girl, just to put her out of her fear._

'_I'm going to take you to the mainland, and drop you off. Just run. Don't come near this company again.'_

_The girl nodded._

'_Thank you,' she whispered. She wanted to ask why, but decided not to push her luck._

'_Disappear, for your sake as well as mine,' said Yassen. Tamara nodded. 'Why?' was the question on her lips, but she didn't say anything. _

_Silence enveloped them, and soon the mainland was visible. It only took them a few minutes to reach the shore, and it was deserted._

_Yassen stopped a few metres short of the shore, and took out his knife, and cut the zip tie._

'_Thank you,' said Tamara again._

_Yassen didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything. _

'_Go,' he said, eventually. Tamara hesitated for a moment, and knowing that it was extremely dangerous, leant forward and kissed him on the cheek before stepping out of the boat and disappearing into the darkness._

_Yassen was so stunned that he didn't move for a few minutes, but eventually tried to keep his mind off it, sighed and rowed back to the island in solitude._

x.x.x


	5. Don't Worry

Hi guys!

Sorry for the wait, but here's the next chapter! Hope you like it, and I'll try and update sooner next time!

-Lauren

x.x.x

Alex and Anya didn't speak again of Tamara Knight, and yet both their thoughts were filled with her name almost all of the time. Both of them were dying to know why the CIA was monitoring their school, and what was about to happen. Both of them also wanted to know how on earth Yassen knew Tamara. But it was a taboo subject, and also very risky to talk about, so none of them said a word about it.

They didn't know that the CIA wasn't the worst thing that was about to enter their school.

'Class, we have two new students,' said Mr Grey.

Kiara and Ryan stood at the front of the classroom, looking like ordinary schoolchildren. It was a flawless disguise – even Alex Rider didn't suspect anything. Kiara looked like an ordinary schoolgirl, pretending to be checking out all the guys in the class, and Ryan looking slightly bored, chewing on a piece of gum.

They were, however, not ordinary at all.

'This is Kiara and Ryan Ashford, class,' said Mr Grey. 'They're new to Brookland. I'm sure you will make them welcome here.'

Grunts of approval and a few sighs came from the class. New students were nothing interesting. A few people mumbled back hello's but none paid too much attention.

Even Alex Rider did not pay much attention to the new students; Kiara and Ryan had been well trained to fit in perfectly. After the ordinary introduction, they occupied the empty seats next to Alex.

'Nice to meet you,' said Ryan, turning to Alex. Alex felt obliged to answer.

'Ryan, right? I'm Alex,' he said.

Ryan smiled to himself. This was the boy – for sure.

x.x.x

Alex, Anya and Tom took their usual seats in the school cafeteria. Tom had piled his tray with food as usual, and Alex's and Anya's food looked dismal in comparison.

Alex spotted the new kids, Kiara and Ryan, approaching.

'Do you mind if we sit with you guys?' asked Kiara, smiling sweetly at the three. Tom grinned. Tom, a normal teenage boy, couldn't resist Kiara and her perfect smile.

'Not at all,' he answered. Kiara smiled at him again and she and Ryan sat down.

'So where are you guys from?' asked Tom. Alex sighed silently. That was Tom, always friendly, sometimes to the point of exhaustion. Alex had enough to worry about without two new people tagging along – it made investigation so much harder because they didn't know he was a spy.

What Alex didn't know was that Kiara and Ryan knew everything about him.

'We're from Australia. Sydney, actually. London is ridiculously cold,' said Kiara.

'Why did you move?' asked Tom, keeping the conversation going.

Alex looked around the cafeteria, and gasped. Anya turned to him.

'Is something wrong?' she asked.

'I need to go… to my locker. I left my maths book there,' lied Alex, jumping up from the table and walking briskly off. Anya raised an eyebrow at Alex's behaviour. Something was wrong, definitely.

x.x.x

Ben Daniels knew that Alex had spotted him.

He decided to test Alex's hunting skills; he ducked down a corridor to the right, and quickened his pace. He could hear Alex's footsteps not far behind him.

Alex lost sight of Fox temporarily, and was met with a decision – left or right? He took a quick look and found the distant figure of Fox running down the right corridor.

_So he wants to play hide and seek?_ thought Alex, _Let's go._

Alex sprinted down the corridor, but couldn't gain any ground against Fox.

Ben flung open the door to an empty classroom and ran in. Crossing the classroom in under 3 seconds, he opened one of the windows and jumped out. He closed the window before leaving, and hid among the hedges.

Alex lost sight of Ben, but as he passed a classroom, the door was swinging ever so slightly on its hinges, as if it had been opened recently. Alex knew by who it had been. He ran into the classroom, and was dismayed to find it empty. He checked for any unusual signs, and was about to leave… until he saw the faintest of dirt marks on the window sill.

Hurriedly he opened the window and jumped out. There was something wrong with the picture, Alex knew, but he couldn't figure it out. He felt a presence behind him, and was about to turn around, but was caught in a headlock before he could react.

'Why, hello, Cub,' said Ben, smiling.

'Fox,' replied Alex. 'Nice to see you on your feet again.'

'Thank you,' replied Ben. 'Nice to finally see you at school.'

'What are you doing here?' Alex asked, not afraid to get to the point.

'Just keeping an eye on a few things,' said Fox vaguely.

'Like me?' asked Alex sarcastically.

'Maybe,' answered Ben, grinning.

'Are you going to let me go?' asked Alex.

Ben took away his arm and grinned at Alex.

'See you around, then, Cub,' he said, waving and walking off.

Alex didn't even bother trying to follow him – if Ben didn't want to tell Alex anything, there was no way Alex would get an answer out of Ben.

At least he knew that Fox was there.

Which meant something was definitely wrong.

x.x.x

'Where'd you go, Alex?' asked Tom. Alex was glad to see that the two new students weren't with them anymore.

'Somewhere,' said Alex distractedly.

Tom sighed. Alex always answered so vaguely.

x.x.x

Alex knew more now, and he was trying to piece things together as he walked home.

He knew that Tamara Knight was stationed at his school. He knew that Fox was stationed there as well. He knew that it was more than surveillance because there was already an agent there to keep an eye on him – Miss Treat.

He knew that there were a few possibilities. Since he'd just recently foiled Scorpia's plan, Scorpia was probably after him and they could just be there for protection. But why the CIA, though? They had nothing to do with this.

Another possibility was that they had found out Yassen was alive. Alex didn't know a lot about Yassen's past, but he suspected that it was reason enough for his name to be on the lists of every intelligence agency in the world. If there was even a slight chance that he was alive, the agents would be swarming in like bees.

But why station themselves in the school? There were hundreds of children around, and that alone would make it so much harder for the agents. They could easily investigate Yassen from a distance by renting one of the houses in the area. If they wanted to see Anya, they could do the same.

Alex was leaning towards protection, but if that was the case, why hadn't MI6 contacted him? And why couldn't the CIA tell him what it was about? Things were very mysterious.

And then as he was turning the facts over again in his head something clicked.

If there were good people in the school, the only reason they would be in school is if there were bad people in the school as well.

x.x.x

'Anya!' Alex shouted into the phone. As soon as he'd gotten home he'd rung Anya to tell her about what he'd realised.

'Yes, Alex?' she asked, raising an eyebrow on her end. Yassen heard and stopped cooking and came to Anya's side, listening in to the conversation.

'You know how the CIA's in school?' he asked.

'Yes…'

'MI6's there as well, now.' Yassen snatched the phone off Anya.

'What, Alex?' Alex was caught off guard by the change of voice, but continued nevertheless.

'MI6 has an agent in the school. I know him. Ben Daniels. He helped me with the Winston Yu incident. He's stationed in the school, but he wouldn't tell me anything. And I was thinking, either they're here for my protection against Scorpia, or they know you're alive. It can't be unrelated, can it?'

Yassen nodded. 'No, something's going on, Alex. Keep it to a minimum, though. I can handle this.'

'What if they're after you?' asked Alex, worried. Over the past few months he'd developed a close relationship and the thought of losing his father figure gave him much anxiety.

'They've always been after me, Alex,' said Yassen, smiling. 'It's no different to before.'

'But –'

'You worry about yourself, and I'll worry about myself and Anya,' said Yassen.

'But also… why would they be stationed at the school? Wouldn't that be difficult? The only reason I can think of is that…'

Yassen immediately thought of the most likely possibility of why they'd be at school.

'There's an enemy _in_ the school,' Yassen finished. Alex gaped – Yassen had read his mind! Alex didn't take into account that Yassen was an extremely intelligent and highly trained assassin who, though wasn't quite capable of reading minds, could still come up with all the reasons why for any particular phenomena.

'So what do we do?' asked Alex.

'Stay low, and be alert. But don't worry.'

The last command was the hardest for Alex to do.


	6. Girl Problems

Hi everyone! I am so sorry I haven't been updating, I'm not dead! I've been having exams, the biggest ever case of writers' block, and been working on my original fics. But I'm back, and here's an extra long chapter to make up for it. I'm really sorry, guys. I hope you're still with me. Thanks for understanding, I promise I'll update soon!

-Lauren

x.x.x

The next day at school, Alex was on the lookout.

Anya had been told by Yassen the same thing – to lie low, to be alert and not to worry too much. She adhered to the instructions a little better than Alex did.

She could tell Alex was jumpy. When they were walking around, he would always scan the area. Every time he saw Miss Knight or the new janitor, Ben, he would stare and go into thinking mode.

Alex had several suspects in mind. Miss Bedfordshire, the receptionist, had a soft spot for him, so he was able to access the school records one lunchtime, and wrote down the name of every new teacher or employee within the past 3 months.

He perused the list in more detail that afternoon. He closed the door to his room, sat at his desk and read the list.

Ben Daniels was the most recent, but Alex knew who he was.

Next was Tamara Knight, but it definitely wasn't her.

A new Science teacher by the name of Nathan Aldridge had been appointed recently. He was 27, and though Alex wasn't taught by him, he remembered him to be a tall man with a large build. Was he fit? He certainly could be a suspect; Alex wrote his name down on a separate piece of paper that was the suspect list. He would bug Miss Bedfordshire for Mr Aldridge's resume.

The next was a Geography teacher by the name of Alice Reeves. Alex didn't have her either, but he knew that she was about 50 or so years old, and very obese. Almost certainly not the enemy, though she did have a terrible temper.

The school had appointed a new receptionist called Ruby Lewis. She was young, about 24 years old, and quite pretty, from what Alex remembered. Last time Alex paid for something at the office, he remembered that she was very nice and had a pleasant demeanour, but then again, that could be her cover. He couldn't remember whether she was fit or not, and women's bodies had a way of hiding athleticism, especially in skinny girls. Nevertheless, her name was on the suspect list, though it would be a little harder for Alex to get _her_ resume.

There was a new English teacher called Eric Callaghan at the school. Alex sighed; he had Mr Callaghan. He was about 50 years old, with a stomach so round he could have been pregnant, and every time he opened his mouth, he bellowed. He seemed incapable of talking in an "inside voice". He certainly wasn't fit, but he was so nasty that Alex put his name down on the list anyway. The stomach, after all, could be strapped on under his belly; it was so ridiculously large Alex wouldn't be surprised if it was fake.

A new librarian called Patricia Hammond had also been appointed recently. She was 36 years old, and rather overweight. She had glasses that always slid halfway down her nose and was renowned only for telling students to keep quiet. It was unlikely that she had a hidden agenda, but still, Alex would keep an eye on her.

Lastly, there was a new PE teacher called Wentworth Morgan. He was young and fit – 25 years old and had played sports all his life. He could beat anyone in the cross country or any other sporting event, which Alex regarded as rather odd. This alone got him put on Alex's list. However, he was a jolly, funny man, and always made jokes. Most of the girls liked him secretly, from what he heard from Tom, and even the teenage boys respected him. He smiled most of the time and was always genial. But even this was a little suspicious, and so Alex underlined his name on the list.

Pleased with his findings and glad that he had some idea of what was happening, he switched off the light and went to sleep.

x.x.x

Alex rang Anya the next day and ran her through his list.

'Hm,' she said, sighing. 'Mr Callaghan, really, Alex? He's a little fat, don't you think?'

'His stomach could be fake,' said Alex. 'It's certainly big enough to be.' Anya laughed.

'Well, I suppose. But Alex, don't you think Yassen can handle himself?' asked Anya. Yassen's ears pricked up in the next room at the mention of the name, but tried not to invade on Anya's privacy like he usually did. It was hard sometimes always being aware of what his adopted daughter was doing – his eavesdropping skills had stayed with him throughout the years.

'Yeah, but –' said Alex.

'Be alert, but don't trouble yourself too much, ok, Alex? Don't want your brain to explode,' said Anya, smiling.

'Alright,' said Alex, sighing. 'But we'll check it out, alright?'

Anya laughed. 'If you want to, Alex. You're like Harry Potter, you know that? He always wanted to know exactly what was happening in school as well.'

Alex chuckled. 'I know.'

x.x.x

The next day, Tom had PE with Mr Morgan. After the lesson was lunch. Alex planned to watch him through the end of the lesson, then follow him afterwards discreetly, and track his activities. He seemed like the most likely suspect, with his athleticism and charisma. The only problem was, Alex was in Mr Callaghan's class with Anya.

'Alex, stop looking at the clock,' Anya hissed. Mr Callaghan was glaring at Alex, and Anya was elbowing him. 'What are you doing?'

Alex snapped out of it and pretended to be engrossed in his work.

'I need to get out of class for a bit longer than a toilet break,' said Alex. 'Can you cover for me?'

Anya sighed.

'Which one?' she asked. She already knew what Alex was doing, and that she could do nothing to stop him.

'Mr Morgan,' he whispered, standing up. Anya felt a rush of adrenaline. She knew that Yassen had told them to lay low, but she wanted to be involved in the action and get some information for herself.

'Mr Callaghan, can I please go to the toilet?' Alex asked. Mr Callaghan's face turned red, he turned to Alex with a furious expression on his face.

'No, you may not! Not in the middle of my class! Don't you think you've missed enough schooling with –'

Anya stood up, determined to cover for Alex. She walked over to Mr Callaghan, and said to him softly,

'Alex isn't feeling so well.' Mr Callaghan looked suspicious, but he knew Alex's history and didn't want a lawsuit on his hands. 'Can I go with him to make sure he's ok?'

Mr Callaghan hesitated, but agreed in the end. Alex nodded to Anya and they walked out of the classroom together.

Only a few minutes later did Mr Callaghan realise that he'd sent a boy to the toilet with a girl, but was too lazy to go after them or give them a detention.

'Good one,' whispered Alex. Anya smiled.

'Thank you.'

'Tom's in Mr Morgan's class. We'll watch him then follow him after lunch, and see what he gets up to,' said Alex, outlining the plan.

'How?'

'We just will.'

'You mean you haven't planned this out?' said Anya, shocked. If Alex was a spy, he should know better.

'Hey, he's just a PE teacher,' said Alex.

'But you want to find out that he's not,' pointed out Anya. Alex hesitated. It was a fair point.

'Alright, we'll just walk by, look like we're running messages back and forth, keep an eye on him, count on Tom to cover for us, then pretend we're going to our lockers after lunch and follow him. Then we'll see whether he goes straight to the staffroom. If he does, then we'll sit outside in the corridor, have lunch there, wait till he leaves and then follow him again, very sneakily – maybe only one of us will go – and if he doesn't we'll follow him to wherever he goes, whether it's the car park or what.'

'Ok,' said Anya.

They walked quickly down to the oval, where they could see Tom and Mr Morgan's class. They were running laps around the oval, Tom and Mr Morgan leading. Alex and Anya got closer, walking across the other end of the oval, and watching Mr Morgan in turns, talking to each other.

'So anything suspicious?' asked Anya. It was Alex's turn to look.

'No,' said Alex. 'Looks like a normal PE teacher to me,' he said disappointedly.

They took turns looking, but none of them could see anything suspicious. Alex wasn't disheartened, though. If he was a spy, he was unlikely to do anything during PE class. After the bell rang, Alex and Anya snapped into action.

Mr Morgan left and discreetly (or how they thought was discreetly), Alex and Anya followed.

They dodged the students escaping from the classrooms and followed Mr Morgan until he came to the staffroom door. Immediately Alex and Anya stopped, paused, and sat down by the door.

A few minutes passed and nothing happened. Alex and Anya couldn't hear a thing – Mr Morgan was silent. Alex looked at Anya; she shook him off.

Then the telephone rang.

'Ooh,' whispered Alex.

'Hello?' asked Mr Morgan cheerily. He sounded like he was eating something at the same time. 'Oh, that's fine. Don't worry about it. So I'll meet you tonight, yeah?'

Alex raised his eyebrows, and Anya resisted the urge to slap him on the arm.

'At the station. Yeah, 9:00. Alright, honey, love you, bye!'

Anya shook her head and Alex pretended to vomit.

They stayed there for the rest of lunch, but nothing much else happened. Mr Morgan stayed in the staffroom for the whole of lunch, and when the bell rang for the next lesson, he went straight down to his class.

'Nothing, then,' concluded Anya.

'He might have just been hiding it because he knew we were there,' pointed out Alex.

'Oh, give it up, Alex, I don't reckon it's him,' said Anya, sighing.

'Alright, alright. Who next?'

x.x.x

The next target was Mr Aldridge.

'No, Alex, he's my science teacher!' protested Anya.

'We have to try!' said Alex. 'Look, you distract him by talking to him about some science subject, and I'll search his stuff.'

'Alex!'

'I don't think following them is enough! One lunchtime of non-activity doesn't prove anything, but a clean bag proves a lot more – especially if it's not as clean as it looks,' said Alex.

'Alex, are you really that desperate?'

'Trust me, I do this all the time,' he said, with a little bit of pride in his voice. Anya sighed.

'Mr Aldridge has got playground duty today. How are you going to dodge the other teachers in the staffroom?'

'Oh, I'll just tell them I'm picking something up for him, search around in his desk, and use that excuse. Plus, they all like me, don't they?'

Anya laughed. 'Like Mr Callaghan likes you?'

'He doesn't like anyone,' said Alex.

x.x.x.

'Hi Mr Aldridge,' said Anya, as sweetly as he could.

'Hello Anya,' said Mr Aldridge, smiling at her. Most of the teachers liked Anya, because she was smart, pleasant and mature. Most of them wondered why she hung out with Alex and Tom in the first place. 'How are you?'

'I'm good, thanks. I was just wondering… you know how we learnt about electrical resistors the other day? Well, I didn't quite get it, and I was wondering whether you could explain…'

'Of course,' he said. 'A bright student is never afraid to say that they don't understand.' Anya smiled.

Mr Aldridge launched into a detailed explanation, as they walked around the playground together. Anya stole a look at Alex, who was already dashing away, off and up to the Science rooms.

x.x.x

Alex knocked, and waited nervously. He shouldn't be nervous, after everything he'd done, but he wasn't at school a lot, and teachers still scared him, after Point Blanc.

'Hello Alex, what do you want?' asked Mr Reynolds, trying hard to smile at the student who was away half the time.

'I just need to pick something up for Mr Aldridge…' said Alex hesitantly. Hesitantly because he thought it would be less suspicious, and hesitantly because he was hesitating.

'What is it that you need?' asked Mr Reynolds. Alex gulped.

'Just some exam papers – he wanted to show me something on it…'

Mr Reynolds concealed a sigh. 'Alright, his desk is over there.'

'Thank you,' said Alex. He rushed over to Mr Reynolds desk, stole a glance to check that no one was looking too carefully, and praised his luck. Mr Reynolds had left the staffroom and no one else was even paying the slightest attention to him.

Alex worked quickly, because he knew he didn't have long. The desk had nothing of interest, and too much digging around underneath all the mess would make Mr Aldridge notice that someone had been there. Bad if he was a spy, and worse if he wasn't. Alex checked the drawers quickly, for hidden guns and the sort, but there was nothing but paperclips and spare chalk. Under the desk was nothing, and finally, his bag was gone, so Alex couldn't even check that. To Alex's disappointment, the place was clean.

Sighing, he left the staffroom.

x.x.x

'Nothing,' said Alex.

'See? I told you there was no point searching his desk.'

'It gives me more conclusive information,' argued Alex.

'So, who else could it be?' asked Anya.

'Ruby Lewis, the new secretary.'

'Ooh, she might be hard to track, in the office all day. Is there anyone else?'

'A few more, but they're really unlikely. Patricia Hammond, the new librarian –'

'Eugh,' said Anya. 'Definitely not.

'Mr Callaghan's reasonably new.'

Anya almost spat out the juice she was drinking.

'Mrs Reeves?'

'Yeah, sure. She's nasty enough to be,' commented Anya.

'Apart from that, no one else is new.'

'Apart from Ms Knight.'

'Yeah, apart from her.'

'Alex?' said a voice from behind him. Alex turned around to see Ms Knight bending over the desk they were sitting at. He stood up abruptly and pretended to smile.

'Ms Knight,' he said awkwardly.

'Alex, can I talk to you?' she asked, raising a perfectly formed eyebrow.

'I'll leave,' said Anya quickly. She gathered her stuff and left the classroom quickly.

'Alex,' said Tamara. 'Can you please stop snooping around the teachers?' Alex sighed. Tamara was good, he knew, but he'd hoped that his snooping would have escaped her notice.

'But –'

'That's _my_ job. You're still a schoolkid, you know that?' she said, trying to sound gentle but coming off as a little prickly nevertheless.

'I know, but –'

'I know you know there's someone bad in the school. I would not have expected anything less from you,' she said, smiling. 'But, just concentrate on your schoolwork, ok?'

Alex almost was going to just be resigned and agree, pretend to leave the subject alone, but he was getting annoyed.

'How can I concentrate on my schoolwork when there are MI6 and CIA agents running around the school, _showing_ me that there's something going on?! How can I concentrate on my schoolwork when there might be someone trying to kill me at any moment?' burst out Alex. For once, he just wished he were normal.

'Alex,' said Tamara soothingly, putting a hand on his shoulder. He shook her off. 'I've got it covered, alright? You saved my life, I'll look after yours.'

Alex was silent.

'Come on, Alex, just don't worry about it, ok?'

'Alright,' said Alex, resorting to pretending. 'Bye.' He picked up his stuff and left without saying another word, off to find Anya.

x.x.x

'Anya,' said Yassen. He knew she was hiding something from him. Anya peeped out of the door to her room.

'Yes?' she said innocently. Damn, the girl was a good actor, thought Yassen, but not good enough to fool me.

'How's school going?' asked Yassen.

'Fine,' said Anya.

'Can I help you with any homework?' he asked.

'I don't have assassin class,' teased Anya. 'Unless you want to teach me…?'

'No,' said Yassen firmly. Ever since her discovery of Yassen's old job, she'd wanted to learn a bit of the craft. Yassen sent her to martial arts lessons and told her a few tips when they came to mind, but he had no intention of turning his newly found daughter into an assassin.

'Anya,' said Yassen. 'How's Alex going?'

'Alex… he's going well? Yes, he's fine,' said Anya, a little flustered.

'Is that him on the phone?'

'Um, yes…'

'Can I talk to him?'

'Just a sec…'

Anya took the phone out from her room and gave it to Yassen hesitantly.

'So, we have to check out Ruby Lewis – Anya?'

'Hello Alex,' said Yassen. Anya's heart fell – she'd heard Alex spill the beans. She was meant to be lying low, not trying to investigate. Boy, was she in trouble.

'Oh, Yassen…' said Alex. _Crap,_ Alex thought.

'So, who's this Ruby Lewis?' asked Yassen, pretending to make pleasant conversation.

'Well, she's a girl that I think is pretty hot,' lied Alex. 'I wanted Anya to check her out for me –'

Yassen barely fought back laughter.

'Alex, can you please stop playing detective?' asked Yassen.

'Alright,' he said, sighing. You didn't argue with Yassen. Nobody argued with Yassen, even if he was a "good guy" now. You still didn't argue with Yassen Gregorovich.

'Thank you Alex. Goodnight.' Yassen hung up and saw that Anya's bedroom door was closed.

'Anya?' he called, climbing up the stairs again. He knocked on her door.

'Yes?' she said. 'I've got homework to do, can I talk to you –'

Yassen was right behind her, before she even turned around to look.

'I thought I told you to stay low,' said Yassen, staring at Anya. She shrunk back a little into her chair. Even if Yassen was her uncle, she could still see the outline of a gun at his hip.

'I was just trying to see –'

Yassen sighed. 'It's alright, Anya. I know you're curious… just try and curb it for a little while, ok?'

In the past, Yassen dealt with disobedience by torture or simply murder. Now, he dealt with it by giving Anya a pat on the head and a kiss on the forehead.

x.x.x

'No more investigating, then,' said Anya.

'No. I think Yassen's right anyway,' said Alex.

'Yassen's always right,' said Anya, sighing.

'Alex, Anya, will you please stop your chatter!' shouted Mr Callaghan.

'Sorry,' said Anya.

'He's such a bore, isn't he?' whispered Kiara, who had suddenly magicked herself to Anya's desk.

'Yeah, he is.'

'Want to get out of the lesson? Will you come to the bathroom with me?' asked Kiara.

Anya raised an eyebrow. It was an odd request… but then Anya remembered that girls usually went to the bathroom in twos, and that Kiara might be having…

Well, she might be having girl problems.

So Anya said yes.

'Mr Callaghan, could we please go to the bathroom?' Mr Callaghan flicked his hand, and Kiara and Anya left the room.

'So, have you done that assignment on Romeo and Juliet yet?' asked Kiara.

'Not yet,' said Anya.

'It's so annoying, assignments! I hate them, don't you?'

'Yeah,' said Anya, with decidedly less rigour than Kiara.

'And Mr Callaghan's really annoying, isn't he?'

'Yeah.'

Anya felt a little out of place with this overtalkative girl.

They went into the bathrooms, and Kiara gave Anya a little smile before disappearing into a cubicle. Ok, so no girl problems then. Anya decided she might as well go to the toilet if she was here already.

She did her business, washed her hands and waited for Kiara. And waited. Kiara still wasn't out yet…

Then Anya heard the school bell ring, and raised an eyebrow. According to her watch, it wasn't time for the lesson to end – it had only just started. She wondered whether her watch was wrong.

The bell kept on ringing.

2 seconds, 3, 4, 5, 6…

It was a lockdown.

And Anya was in the toilet.

'Kiara, it's a lockdown!' she shouted to Kiara, who was still in the toilet.

Anya waited for an answer, but none came.

Seconds passed.

'Are you alright?' she asked. Still no answer.

Then the toilet door flung open, and Kiara rushed out.

'Ki-'

But Kiara didn't stop running. She charged at Anya and pinned her easily to the wall. Anya's eyes widened. She should have been more careful. She should have seen it coming.

And now there was nothing she could do as the hands around her neck tightened.

x.x.x

'Lockdown,' said Alex. 'We should get to the nearest classroom.'

'Yeah,' agreed Ryan, and they ran into the maths classroom a few metres away. The door wasn't locked, and the classroom was empty. That was odd.

The two boys rushed into the classroom, and performed the basic lockdown procedures. They closed the windows, turned off the lights and locked the door. Alex and Ryan hid under the table, and waited.

'It's probably a drill,' said Ryan.

'Hm,' Alex said, pretending to agree, but he knew something was wrong. For one thing – it was during the middle of term; usually they had lockdown drills at the end of term so that they weren't interrupting important classes. For the second thing, there had been a ridiculous amount of agents in the school lately. Something was wrong, and the intelligence agencies knew about it. If only Alex had worked out who was the enemy in the school! Alex would be willing to bet that Tamara, Ben and Miss Treat were all in the middle of some sort of action at that moment.

He was dead wrong – they were trying to find him.

Alex didn't see Ryan's punch coming.

Ryan's fist hit the side of his face, and blood started gushing out of Alex's nose. Alex didn't ask questions, and didn't wonder what was going on with Ryan; his spy instinct kicked in. There would be time for questions later. Now was the time for self defence.

He ignored his nose and hopped out from under the table. Ryan was faster than him, though, and caught him in a headlock. Alex was surprised by the strength of the boy – he certainly wasn't a normal student.

Alex lifted his leg up and kicked back, kicking Ryan in the shin. For a split second, Ryan loosened his grip and Alex took the opportunity. He grabbed the other boy's arm and tried to fling him forward, but Ryan was unexpectedly heavy. Alex did, however, cause him to lose his balance, and Ryan attempted to balance himself.

While balancing, he couldn't defend himself, so Alex used the time to take him out. He made a direct kick to the groin – a dirty tactic, but effective nonetheless. Ryan bent over in pain, and Alex made the mistake of relaxing.

Ryan recovered quickly – or ignored the pain, and threw himself onto Alex, pinning him to the floor. His hands wrapped around Alex's neck, and started to tighten. Alex knew he had to act quickly, before all the breath was forced out of him. With a great heave, he rolled over, and pushed Ryan down to the floor. Unfortunately, Ryan still had a hold on Alex's neck. Alex looked around for anything he could use to his advantage – and spotted a knife in Ryan's pocket. He reached for the knife and pulled it out. He held it to Ryan's own neck.

'Oh,' said Ryan, obviously amused. 'Stalemate. But do you have the guts to kill me, Alex?' he taunted. Alex increased the pressure on Ryan's neck, but knew he had to bluff his way out of this. He would not kill someone without even knowing exactly what they wanted. Perhaps Ryan was simply jealous, or just wanted to prove himself. Alex doubted it, but he would never rest if he never knew.

'I will,' lied Alex.

'Are you sure?' Ryan asked. Alex could feel him gaining the upper hand through his conversation – he was making Alex think twice. However, Alex had a plan.

'You don't believe me?' asked Alex, and he drew the knife up, ready to stab. Ryan saw him hesitate, and was about to laugh, before the knife came plunging down at him. He let go of Alex and rolled over. However, Alex never intended to stab. The knife had been flung to the right, burying itself in the classroom wall.

Alex jumped to his feet, and proceeded to finish the fight quickly. Ryan was still lying on the floor – not as quick as Alex back on his feet. Alex kicked him in the side, and gave him a slap on the side of his head, which knocked him unconscious.

A million questions were running through Alex's mind as he flung open the door, but he didn't try to answer them – his main objective at this point was to find Tamara or Ben.

And then one of the more persistent questions answered themselves.

_What about Ryan's sister?_

_She went to the toilet with Anya._

Alex swore.

If there was something wrong with Ryan, there was bound to be something wrong with his sister. Alex had considered it odd that Kiara asked Anya to go to the toilet with her, but he had put it down to "girl problems" that he had no desire to know about. Now he knew what was really going on.

It was odd how things that concerned him almost inevitably concerned Anya as well these days.

He weighed the consequences. Tamara and Ben could be in any of the classrooms, and the school would take at the very least 10 minutes to search, especially with all the doors locked. That was too long – Anya wasn't much of a fighter. On the other hand, Alex knew that there were only 2 girls' toilets in the school, and Anya and Kiara had probably gone to the nearest one.

He decided to head for the toilet.


	7. Kidnapped

Hey guys! Here's a looong chapter for you guys :). Hope you guys had a good Christmas and New Year!

-Lauren

x.x.x

Alex didn't even think twice about running into the girls' toilet as he flung open the door and saw what he expected.

Kiara and Anya.

However, the circumstances were tricky.

Anya was lying unconscious on the toilet floor, and Kiara had a smug smile on her face.

'Defeated Ryan? I'm impressed,' she said, placing her foot on Anya's stomach.

'What are you doing?' asked Alex, taking one step closer.

'Just what I've been told to,' answered Kiara vaguely.

Alex knew he had to proceed cautiously. Of course Kiara had the upper hand because she had Anya. Alex cursed his stupidity – he should have brought the unconscious Ryan down as well. Then things would have been more equal.

'Step away from her. Your brother's lying unconscious upstairs,' warned Alex.

'He's not my brother,' said Kiara, smiling. 'I don't care about what happened to him.'

Alex cursed. There was no advantage for him now. He had to find out what they wanted, and who was dispensable and who wasn't. If it was a simple kidnap, Anya would not be killed. If however, they were after Alex, it would be a little more complicated.

'Leave her alone. You're after me, aren't you?' he asked. She would give another vague answer if he asked the question straight, he had to make her assume he already knew what she was up to.

'Why, yes, but I'm not completely done with your girlfriend yet,' said Kiara, grinning. Alex could guess who sent them out – and it wasn't good. If Scorpia had come, they would want both him and Anya. Anya to get to Yassen, and Alex, just for revenge.

'You can't kill her,' said Alex. 'If you want to use her to get to Yassen, you can't kill her yet.' He was trying to convince Kiara as well as himself, that they wouldn't kill Anya yet.

'I know,' said Kiara. 'I know. But…'

She paused, and Alex waited. She wouldn't kill Anya, would she? That would just be ridiculous, but the look in Kiara's eyes seriously scared Alex. Time stood still for a second, and Alex considered. If she wanted to kill Anya, she would probably just stick a knife through her heart or slit her throat. Alex doubted that Kiara had a gun. So Alex edged closer, ready to jump on Anya and protect her. He just hoped that his reactions were faster than Kiara could stab.

Kiara took her foot off Anya's stomach slowly, watching Alex. If he was just a little closer… but he couldn't reach Anya at this distance. Kiara picked up the unconscious Anya from the floor, and slung her over her back. Alex was surprised at the strength in who he had thought was just an ordinary schoolgirl. Now, he knew that she worked for Scorpia, or someone who wanted to get to Yassen.

And before Alex could blink, Kiara had pulled out a smoke bomb and thrown it straight at Alex. The smoke billowed out, and Alex fought in vain to blow it away so that he could see. Blindly, he lunged forward, trying to catch Kiara before she could get away, but only ran into the wall and got knocked to the ground. By the time the smoke dissipated, Kiara was gone, and Alex's heart fell.

They had Anya.

Alex didn't waste time fretting, though. As quickly as he could, he ran back to the classroom where he had left Ryan unconscious.

But when he entered, Ryan was nowhere to be found. So Alex grabbed his phone out of his pocket and rang Yassen.

x.x.x

Yassen heard his phone ring, and whipped it out of his pocket and answered it.

'Yassen,' panted a frantic Alex. Yassen felt terror begin to take hold, but fought it. What had happened to Alex?

'What? Alex, are you alright?' asked Yassen.

'T-They got Anya,' said Alex, the fear showing in his voice. Yassen forced himself not to panic.

'Who?'

'Kiara… and Ryan. Two schoolkids. They're working for someone though. Scorpia probably,' said Alex, telling himself to calm down. 'They're gone now.'

Yassen put on a bulletproof jacket while using his shoulder to hold the phone to his ear. There was no time to waste.

'Alex. Are you alright?' asked Yassen.

'I'm fine, but Anya –'

'I know, Alex.' Yassen was better at handling his fear than Alex was, evidently. Alex still had a lot to learn, thought Yassen. 'Now, I'm going to go and find her. You stay there and placate the secret services.'

'But –'

'Goodbye Alex.'

Yassen hung up, and Alex stared at the phone dumbly. Then he snapped out of the shock and ran off, to find Tamara.

x.x.x

Yassen revved up his car and sped off down the suburban street. Anya in Scorpia's hands was worse than Anya in Michael Smith's hands. Scorpia did not make mistakes, and Scorpia was ruthless.

What did they want from him? Or, what did they want from Alex? Revenge was the answer to both those questions. Soon, Yassen would get a phone call to tell him that Anya was in their hands. The phone call would ask him to come to a designated location, unarmed and alone (or possibly with Alex Rider in his custody). When he reached the location, he would find Anya with the enemy. They would threaten to kill her unless Yassen surrendered. And then, Yassen would surrender to save Anya. Then they'd kill him and kill Anya after he was dead.

There had to be another way, thought Yassen, so he shifted his mind to overdrive and used his assassin training to think, because Anya's life and his own depended on it.

x.x.x

'Alex,' said Tamara, as she saw Alex running up the corridor to meet her. 'What happened?'

'They – they took Anya,' said Alex, panting. He'd run all over the school looking for Tamara, and was still scared for Anya's safety.

'Alex, who took Anya?' asked Fox, coming up right behind Tamara.

'Kiara and Ryan – the new kids.'

'Schoolkids?' asked Fox incredulously. Alex nodded.

'What did they want?' asked Tamara.

'I don't know. They didn't kill Anya, but they took her away. Ryan attacked me in a spare classroom, but I got away from him. I ran down to the girls' bathrooms and Kiara had Anya, and Anya was unconscious. She talked for a little bit, then threw a smoke bomb and got away. When I ran back to where Ryan was unconscious, he was gone,' explained Alex. Tamara and Ben looked solemn.

'Ok, Alex, thank you. I'm going to take you to MI6 headquarters now,' said Fox. Before Alex could say another word, Fox had his arm around Alex and was steering him towards the car park.

'Tamara!' Alex called out, and she turned around. 'Are you going to find Anya?'

'I'll try, Alex,' she said, and walked away quickly.

'So who is this Anya?' asked Fox, as Alex was getting into the car. Fox started up the engine and drove quickly out of the school, in the direction of the Royal and General Bank.

'She's my friend,' said Alex. He didn't mention Yassen Gregorovich. 'I think they might be trying to get to me through her –'

'Who?' asked Fox.

'Scorpia.'

'You've got Scorpia on your tail?' asked Fox. He shook his head. 'You're an unlucky kid.'

'Very unlucky or very lucky to still be alive,' said Alex. Fox chuckled.

They spent the rest of the drive in silence, Alex wondering about what MI6 would do now. Would they go after Anya, or would they just leave her to die? Because they wouldn't want him going and wasting his life trying to save a girl – Alex was sure that if MI6 had been with him when Damian Cray had kidnapped Sabina, they would have left her to die, to save Alex from being unnecessarily endangered.

But Alex would not leave Anya, not ever.

MI6 would probably insist that Alex stay in a secure environment, and send out some other agent to try and catch Scorpia while they were in town. Whether Anya lived or died probably mattered little to them, as long as they could keep it out of the papers.

If MI6 did go in, though, would they find Yassen?

Alex gulped. It was a tricky situation.

But Tamara said she would try and find Anya. She did owe Alex, after all. Alex hoped that Yassen would get to Anya, and come out safely.

Alex got out of the car quickly when they reached Liverpool Street. He and Fox were admitted, and soon Alex found himself facing Alan Blunt in his office once again.

'So, obviously your safety is penultimate to MI6,' said Alan Blunt. Alex resisted the temptation to snort. MI6 had certainly pretended that his life was valuable to them, but only in the way that a tool was useful to a carpenter. Not the way that Anya's life was valuable to Alex. 'We didn't expect Scorpia to have another crack at you, because we could humiliate them so easily. But, they must have realised that this was a false threat. The government won't allow us to expose Scorpia – for fear of them losing civilian trust. If they find out about Scorpia now, they'll wonder what else they haven't been told. It was cause chaos. So, I'm sorry Alex, but you are not safe from Scorpia. This Anya Gregorovich, is she a close friend of yours?'

'She's one of my best friends,' said Alex. Not only was it true, but the closer Anya seemed to Alex, the more likely MI6 would be to think that they were using her to get to Alex, not to Yassen.

'I'm sorry, Alex,' said Mrs Jones, (yeah right you're sorry, thought Alex), 'but we can't allow you to go after Anya.' Alex's heart fell. 'They've already sent a ransom note to you. We picked it up from your house. We've evacuated Jack Starbright to a holding facility, in case they come after her as well. They want you at the warehouse on Harriet Street at midnight tomorrow.' Mrs Jones handed the note to Alex, and he read it quickly.

_To Alex Rider,_

_As you probably already know, we hold Anya Gregorovich captive._

_We ask that you come to the old warehouse on Harriet Street at 0000 hours, on the 12/02/01, unarmed and alone. If anyone tries to accompany you, Anya Gregorovich will be killed. Alex, it is up to you to ensure that you come alone. Do not speak a word of this to MI6, because if we see any agents, we will not hesitate to kill Anya. At the warehouse, we will discuss a negotiation and our demands will be met. When you leave, you are not allowed to contact or tell anything of this to MI6. _

_We look forward to seeing you. _

_Yours faithfully,_

_SCORPIA._

_PS. We cannot be accounted for any injuries that occur when you are in our company._

'If I don't go, they'll kill Anya!' shouted Alex, standing up and towering over Mrs Jones and Alan Blunt. Alex had made his decision. He was not going to let himself sit back while Anya might be killed, no matter what it took.

'Alex, you have to see our point of view here,' said Mrs Jones, gently. Fox put a hand on Alex's shoulder and told him to sit down. 'Your life is more valuable to us than Anya's.'

'To you! What about to me?' asked Alex viciously.

'Alex, calm down,' said Mrs Jones.

'We are still going to send someone in,' said Alan Blunt. 'To catch Scorpia while we know where they are.' Alex frowned. Alan Blunt obviously expected him to be placated by that, but he wasn't.

'If you send in an agent, they'll kill Anya!' shouted Alex, getting riled up again. He was angry that MI6 had taken the ransom note. He was angry that they were trying to override his decision.

'That is true,' said Alan Blunt, 'but our agent might be able to attack Scorpia before they can kill the girl.'

'Scorpia will kill Anya at the sight of any agent,' said Alex, glaring at Mr Blunt.

'That is a risk I am prepared to take,' said Alan Blunt.

'But _I'm_ not prepared to risk Anya dying!' shouted Alex, infuriated. He stood up and pushed Fox away from him. 'I'm going to go after her, and you can't stop me,' said Alex. He stormed out of the room and ran, wanting to get away from the devils in Alan Blunt's office.

x.x.x

When Anya woke up, she was hurting. She felt like someone had stuck her into a boxing ring, and she'd been caught up in the fight between the two boxers. Her eyes flickered open, and scanned her surroundings.

She was not in English class, like she was meant to be. Hadn't she fallen asleep in English –

Anya gasped. The memories came rushing back – the lockdown bell, the toilet, Kiara… And she tried to scream but no sound came out, and suddenly she was aware that she was tied to a chair and had duct tape over her mouth.

Shit, thought Anya. She struggled, hoping to find a weakness in the ropes or any way of escaping, but whoever had her was good enough to make sure that didn't happen, and she didn't get anywhere. It didn't stop her from trying, though. She closed her eyes, gathered up all the energy in her, and squirmed in the chair, trying to loosen the ropes, but nothing happened.

Last time she had been kidnapped, she'd been guarded by a professional assassin whose code name was Viper. She'd escaped… how had she escaped? Oh yeah, Yassen had killed Viper and she had run away with Alex.

But now, Yassen wasn't here, Alex wasn't here, and she was alone, and she was helpless.

Shit, she thought, shit indeed.

It was all up to her now. So she struggled and struggled, knowing that her life might depend on getting out now. She kept going even when the friction of the ropes up against her skin was hurting her, even when she could feel her skin being rubbed away, leaving bare flesh underneath.

Anya only stopped struggling when she felt the touch of cold metal at the back of her neck. She froze, and her brain was overtaken by panic. Someone had a gun to her neck.

'Stay still,' a voice said sternly. 'We wouldn't want you to hurt yourself, now would we?'

x.x.x

Alex felt someone grab him from behind, putting two firm hands on his shoulders and picking him up off the ground.

'Alex,' said Fox. Alex flailed in midair, but Fox was twice his size. 'Alex, calm down. Mrs Jones doesn't want you running off on your own.

Fox put Alex back on the ground and reluctantly he went back to Alan Blunt's office.

'What is it?' Alex asked, annoyed. This was his decision, and Anya's life, not just some other MI6 operation that Blunt was treating it like.

'I told you, you can't go in,' said Alan Blunt. 'You'll get killed.'

'I outsmarted them once,' argued Alex. 'I can do it again.'

'That was a matter of luck,' said Alan Blunt. 'This time they have more leverage, because they have your friend hostage.'

'Which is why I have to go. Alone. You shouldn't have even got the ransom note in the first place – it was for me.'

'Alex, you're being foolish,' said Mrs Jones, losing her gentleness. 'Rushing in there like a hero in the movies is not going to do anything but get you killed.'

'Not if I can help it,' said Alex.

'Alex. You can't go in,' said Blunt bluntly.

'And what are you going to do about it? Put me in a locked facility and refuse to let me out until this whole thing is over?' mocked Alex.

Neither Mrs Jones nor Alan Blunt spoke.

'You're not…' Before Alex could finish his sentence, someone grabbed him from behind and he lost consciousness.

x.x.x


End file.
